


Poem: The Singing Bone

by PhantomSpade



Series: Fairytale Horrors [10]
Category: Der singende Knochen | The Singing Bone (Fairy Tale), Original Work
Genre: Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Brothers, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Dark Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retellings, Horror, Murder, Poetry, Punishment, Resentment, Secrets, bones - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 13:32:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17509547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomSpade/pseuds/PhantomSpade
Summary: There were two brothers who competed each other for the princess's heart by killing the boar that laid on the edge of the kingdom for a long time. With a spear from a passing dwarf, the younger brother was the one to kill it. But the older brother wasted his time drinking, and with being told of his brother's victory, murdered him in cold blood and stole the prize.The brother should've known that not every secret stay buried...





	Poem: The Singing Bone

**Author's Note:**

> The Singing Bone (c) Brothers Grimm

In a little kingdom, brothers  
of two: the Older and the  
Younger. There was love on  
the surface, they showed care.

Yet, under the loving skin, Older's  
heart had always held bitter envy  
towards Younger, who was a  
reflection of what he could've been. 

Which came to that fateful day:  
A wild boar, giant and foul, laid  
himself on the edge of the country  
and refused to move from its place.

The King had made an announcement:  
"Any man who slays the boar the lies on  
our land and brings me its corpse shall  
be reward by my daughter's hand!"

And so it began. The two brothers had  
set off to slaughter the boar; Older was  
eager to be the one to kill it and win  
the princess's hand in marriage.

Yet, it didn't go as planned. The brothers  
went their separate paths to the boar:  
Younger traversed through the forest;  
Older chose to waste away in the tavern.

A bottle of sweet rum, followed by  
black beer, Older devoured mugs  
in attempt to earn his courage.  
How foolish he was. 

Younger didn't stray from his goal,  
still marching down the path to  
the lazy boar. He wasn't one to  
put aside his ambitions. 

Up far in his path, a small man;  
stature short, he was around  
Younger's knees. He beckoned  
the young man to come to him. 

"Young man," Said the Dwarf,  
"I have something that you will  
need to complete your task. I  
require no payment from you."

It was a spear, so long and so thin,  
tip made of clean silver. So sharp,  
one could surely bleed from a glance.  
It was perfect for the boar.

The Younger was grateful.  
"Many thanks to you, kind sir.  
I hope to repay you someday."  
And so he resumed to the boar. 

It laid still, as it always did; large,  
thick with fat, smelling rancid  
of spoiled meat. It didn't notice  
Younger sneaking up on it. 

The spear skewered into its  
neck, its heart pierced by the  
tipping point. Barely a squeal  
before it went into eternal sleep. 

Twist and turn, the spear cut  
up the organs when the Younger  
pulled the bloodied weapon with  
ease, looking at his handiwork. 

"I have vanquished the beast!  
Now to take it to the King and  
win the princess's heart!"  
He said with joy inside. 

The fallen pig was dragged  
by the foot, leaving a trail  
of foul blood as the Younger  
returned to where he started. 

There, he had stopped at the tavern.  
Older brother was still at his mugs,  
having drunk and drunk until he  
was seeing pink elephants dancing. 

He had yet to realize that he had  
lost the game between him and  
his little brother. Not until his tizzy  
mind cleared up at seeing Younger. 

Younger looked cheery as the sun,  
which made Older's stomach churn.  
"Brother! I have killed the boar and  
now I will take it to the King!"

A smile that feigned love, his heart  
bursting with wrath and envy. He  
couldn't let Younger get his prize.  
No, he didn't deserve it. 

"Allow me to assist you, brother."  
Younger didn't see through the  
malice behind his brother's  
kindness, accepting it freely. 

Older had ulterior motives;  
he had always desired to rid  
of his little brother, and was  
waiting for his chance. 

The duo had made it to the  
bridge, boar in their hands,  
ready for the exchange. But  
Older had found the opening.

The bottle in hand, it striked  
Younger's head. Shards digged  
into the flesh that protected  
his skull, which had bled. 

It didn't stop. Another hit:  
more blood spilled, the  
head caved in, almost  
kissing Younger's brain. 

One more hit. The neck  
was almost snapping off,  
revealing the bone and  
the soaking red flesh. 

Younger's body went down,  
watched by the cold eyes  
of Older, who parted with,  
"Farewell, my dear brother."

Still under the bridge, Older took  
advantage of the empty silence.  
Hastily burying Younger in the  
cold, wet dirt without dignity. 

What a shallow grave it was. 

No regrets and no looking back,  
Older took hold of the boar and  
spear and made his way to the  
castle to claim his prize.

He presented the boar and the spear.  
"My King! I have slayed the boar that  
wasted away on our kingdom, and I  
killed it with this marvelous weapon!" 

The King was impressed, yet he was  
fooled by the man's lies. "Since you  
have done the deed, young man,  
I shall give you your reward."

A dirty thief, Older was. Stealing  
the boar, stealing his brother's  
claim, and stealing the hand  
of the beautiful princess. 

Several months passed, Older  
enjoyed the luxury of his  
unearned riches, never  
looking back at his crime. 

But his time was up.

A shepard, who traveled by foot,  
was passing beneath the bridge,  
oblivious of stepping onto an  
unmarked grave hastily made. 

"What's this?" He spotted an object  
half-sunk in the bed of dirt; white  
with splotches of red, long and thin,  
smelling of metal and the earth. 

It was a bone.

Without a care in the world, the  
Shepard plucked the bone out  
the crude grave, polishing off  
red and brown until it was white. 

"My my!" The Shepard said, "this  
will help complete my treasured  
horn!" A perfect fit it seemed.  
Yet ignorant of its grisely origin. 

An old horn of brass, the Shepard  
connected the bone to transform  
It into a new mouth. It was the perfect  
fit, just as the Shepard had thought. 

Yet, as he blew into the bone, it  
did not sing a harmonious  
melody. No, it sang the song  
of the Younger's hidden death.

"Dear Shepard! You are blowing through  
my bone, picked up from the rest of mine  
that were left unburied and I unrested!  
I died in the hands of my brother! He  
had slayed me, stole the boar, and  
fooled the princess into believing  
it was he who did the deed!" 

Bewildered, the Shepard was.  
The Younger's bone sang out  
truth, and he wasn't laid to rest.  
He had to take it to the King.

Bone in hand, the Shepard made  
his hurried way to the King's castle.  
His discovery, while a marvel to see  
and hear, he had to expose the culprit. 

The Shepard presented the restless  
bone to the King. "Your majesty! I  
have find this bone that sings the  
tale of his undignified death!"

The Shepard blew into the bone,  
repeating its mournful song  
to the bewildered King.  
What a marvel it was! 

"Guards!" His orders. "Go  
under the bridge and unearth  
any bones this one claims  
to be! Do not dwaddle!" 

Older was in the shadows;  
he had heard the melody  
from his brother's bone.  
He was getting his revenge. 

The burial under the bridge  
was being dug up; shovels  
and hands moved around  
dirt to find the Younger's body. 

They had found it. Bones  
scattered and bloodied,  
flesh and meat decaying  
into the ground below. 

It was just as the bone sang:  
there laid his body in the mess  
of a grave, all committed by  
the hands of his brother. 

Older's lies were exposed;  
The King was furious.  
The young man had realized  
that his life was over.

It was cruel irony for the  
Older; on the bridge, the  
scene of the crime and  
his watery resting place.

His feets were bounded by rope,  
connecting him to the boulder that  
would lead him to his demise.  
He was unable to escape it.

The Younger's spirit floated near,  
a look that spoke wrath and utter  
disappointment, the look that the  
Older has always loathed.

But he pleaded. "Please, dear  
brother! I beg of your forgiveness!  
Do not let them send me to  
the deep flames of Hell!" 

Younger only gave him an answer;  
cold that showed his shame.  
"What you have done, brother,  
you must pay for your sins."

The rock was tossed over, taking  
Older with it to the watery depths  
of Hell. The air choked his throat  
until the river assaulted his body. 

Older's body darkened to a harsh  
blue, the color of his executioner  
and his grave. He was floating  
his way down to his prison.

Older's body continued to swim  
through the merciless stream.  
For his sins, the fish ignored him,  
putting him in the River Styx. 

By his unfortunate luck, a boar,  
one not unlike the one Younger  
had vanquished, saw his  
swimming body in its sights.

Older was plucked into the jaws  
of the boar, his fate turning for  
the worse. To the boar, his body  
was a feast meant to be devoured. 

Deeper and deeper into the woods,  
the starving boar laid Older into  
its nest with such delicacy,  
preparing itself to eat the corpse.

And so it did. Jaws digged into the  
moist flesh, tearing the skin away  
to reveal pulsing muscles and  
slurping intestines. 

Older had become unrecognizable;  
his body first a pile of blood and  
flesh. Then the boar had ate  
every trace of him in existence. 

He was no more. 

As for Younger, his remains  
were reburied in the most  
beautiful made. The death  
that he had truly deserved.


End file.
